32-Hour Hands-On Bartending Course

Become a Bartender Today!

Bartender Training Course Now Only $675

Certifying Bartenders from Burnaby and Vancouver since 1981.

Our top rated bartending course outlines every essential bit of information to get you started as a bartender. For anyone looking for a bartending course near Burnaby, Fine Art Bartending School has Canada’s oldest, largest and most respected bartender certification program. We have put thousands of people from around Vancouver for more than 40 years now. Check out some of our recent photos of the classes.

Burnaby is full of small restaurants, golf courses and hotels that all need bartenders on a regular basis. We at Fine Art Bartending School know what it takes to build essential bar skills. You gain both knowledge and the confidence to get hired over the 2 week course. We aim to keep our drink recipes current and accurate too, with industry feedback. Hop on the Skytrain and come downtown to learn to bartend in an awesome environment.

The Fine Art Bartending program is a very hands-on bartending course. We encourage lots of practice, because we know that lots of practice makes perfect. We have a very practical approach to teaching quality cocktail making. Each class is taught downtown, only 5 minutes from both Waterfront and Granville Skytrain stations. We are also just a stone’s throw from some of Vancouver’s best bartenders. Burnaby has a few great bars around Metrotown, but come downtown and check out what cocktails are being crafted in Gastown.

a bartender making a drink
Bartending

Each Bartending Course Starts with Theory

History of liquor is also important in any decent bartender training program, plus a little theory. We need to teach you the basics of beer and wine, then we get into spirits. Add to that the background material and history of each liquor that every bartender needs to understand. Of course we even toss in a few of our own experiences and stories, to then give you an idea of what to expect when you are working behind a bar.

The 32-hour Commercial Bartending Course is eight 4-hours days of learning to bartend. We get you up behind our 22 foot long bar and give you a station to practice your cocktail making. At the end of classes, and after successful completion, you will have:

  • the esteemed Fine Art Commercial Bartender Certificate
  • 100 different cocktails in your arsenal of drink knowledge
  • the know-how to craft your own cocktails
  • strategies to make more tips, and more money for the house
  • ideas on what to expect from your bartenders and how to train support staff
  • oodles of confidence
  • plus a few new friends

In British Columbia, anyone selling or serving alcohol needs to have Serving It Right certification. We don’t spend time specifically going through that material as it is all online now. Every bartender does need to know about responsible service, but we focus class time on you practicing how to be a bartender. We want you making cocktails, improving your customer service, and learning how to make more tips! If you want to be a bartender in Burnaby… you need to know how to squeeze tips out of every guest!

Class Times

DAY Classes

$ 675
  • 11am – 3pm
  • Tuesday to Friday for TWO weeks

EVENING Classes

$ 675
  • 6pm – 10pm
  • Tuesday to Thursday for Week #1 & 2
    Tuesday & Wednesday for Week #3

WEEKEND Classes

$ 675
  • 12pm – 4pm
  • Saturdays & Sundays for FOUR weeks

*Note that on Statutory Holidays, we may shift classes

If you’re looking for a bartending course near Burnaby, we have DAY and EVENING courses starting every two weeks. The weekend classes start roughly every four weeks. Click the big green button for all our upcoming class start dates to find out what works for you!

Don’t see dates far enough in the future for your advanced schedule? Check out our class calendar! We have a good idea of when classes are even if you don’t see them noted on the website. Just ask.

Event Bartender

Register Today For Only $675. Regularly $849.

We are Vancouver's Best Bartending School!

Choose Vancouver’s Best Bartender Training Program

Soon to be bartenders from all around Vancouver have been coming downtown to get their training. For more than 35 years now, we have been Greater Vancouver’s best bartender training school. Your students love us! We want you to know how to make a bunch of great cocktails, but also how to be a great bartender. If you are looking to work in Richmond or Steveston, there are plenty of great hotel bars and small restaurants that always need help. We will make sure you know which establishments you should be targeting to get work fast.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Taking this course was a great experience for me! I found a bartending job in Vancouver easily after I took this course. Although I didn’t continue to work as a bartender as my career with my boring engineering degree got too busy, I’ve gained entrance to a whole new knowledge through this course. Now I know my drinks to make at parties, what wine I prefer at a fine dining restaurant, or just the general knowledge of what all those bottles of liquid are when I hit the liquor store. I strongly recommend this course to whoever wants a jumpstart to a career in bartending, add more experience to your current bartending job, or even just there to learn more about alcohol, enjoy, and have fun!
Kevin Y​. from Richmond

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I just wanted to say thanks to the instructors for the bartending course at Fine Art. I found the course to be well paced, very informative and appreciated all the attention and consistent feedback. The course was very hands on and was filled with tips and tricks of the trade… which are all necessary if I wanted to become a bartender. Not only did I learn over 70 cocktails and martinis, the drills to become fast and efficient at them are excellent. The course is challenging but with a clear progression and sequence that makes learning the drinks easy. If anyone was ever wondering about the course I highly recommend it as it surpassed my expectations. I was just hired at a Pub today not even 2 weeks after the course was over. Thanks again
Craig P. from Steveston

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I really enjoyed the class, i went to the day and night courses in Vancouver and liked them both. It never got to be boring and I was always learning something new. You did a great job teaching and kept it interesting (never a dull moment). I am currently looking for a job bartending/serving but the course will help me get a start. Great job!
James H. from Richmond

Meet your Instructors

Grant G.
Day Classes
Bartender

Grant G.

Zack C.
Evening Classes
Bartender

Zack C.

Tieg S.
Weekend Classes
Bartender

Tieg S.

Chris S.
Team Events & Special Classes Bartender

Chris S.

Scroll to Top
Grant G.

Grant G.

Grant became interested in bartending back in his early days living in Alberta. After earning a Diploma in Bartender Training from N.A.I.T. he headed out here to Vancouver… and decided to make this city his home. We think he made the right call, especially on those warm sunny days when an Aperol Spritz is the patio cocktail of choice. His bartending instructors from back in the day would be proud of where he is now!

Grant has oodles of experience. He has many years as a banquet bartender at the Westin Bayshore, plus many more as a nightclub bartender. Both jobs are very different, but require both accuracy and speed. Weddings and conferences require volumes of cocktails in a very quick fashion to match the theme of the event. Nightclubs offer the opportunity for flair while still cranking out the cocktails.

Travelling is also a passion of his, and he has spent time travelling through much of Europe. He enjoys getting his hands dirty when not behind the bar with some gardening. If you too have a green thumb, Grant is more than happy to share some his knowledge, especially with his Master Gardener Certificate earned right here in Vancouver from VanDusen Botanical Garden.

Zack C.

Zack C.

When not teaching evenings here at Fine Art Bartending, you can find Zack slinging drinks at 1181. On the weekends, Zack is the lead bartender, bar manager and the main guy training new bartenders there. With over 10 years in the service industry, he has a pile of stories to share about how much fun this industry is. Before creating all kinds of cocktails, he worked his way up from bar back to bar manager.

If you ask him what he likes to drink, he’ll tell you he’s a tequila guy. It’s those great margaritas that take him back to those days when we could easily travel to Mexico. Tequila is something that really needs to be sipped to be appreciated. He’s also spent some time as a barista so Zack knows his coffee.

Zack is also an actor and has spent many years teaching drama and improv. Bard on the Beach and the Canadian Improv Games are a few of the different things he has been up to ever since relocating out west from Ontario. You can also find him on IMDB!

Tieg S.

Tieg S.

Tieg was born and raised in Vancouver BC where he got his start in the hospitality industry nearly 20 years ago. He began working in the kitchen. After learning to cook, he decided to move into bartending for a new challenge and to make a bit more money. To make that transition, he found our bartending course.

Tieg learned how to bartend from Fine Art Bartending. Shortly after learning everything he could from his bartending instructors, Tieg became a bartender at Monk McQueens. Monk’s was a Vancouver landmark location in False Creek that is now home to Mahoney and Sons. Since then he has worked as a bartender and manager at bars and restaurants across the lower mainland including the Sandbar on Granville Island, the Shark Club and BarOne at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

When he’s not teaching, Tieg is writing, hiking, exercising and exploring the city. He also enjoys travelling and lived abroad in Japan where he studied Japanese and in Los Angeles where he earned a degree in journalism.

Chris S.

Chris S.

Chris also graduated from Vancouver Fine Art Bartending back in 1998. Bartending at university parties made him seek out a role behind the bar for both some extra cash while working on that engineering degree. Shortly after finishing the bartending classes, Chris started at a little Greek restaurant in Vancouver’s West Side, and after a couple years he moved on to the city’s best jazz club ‘The Cellar’. Doing a day job as an engineer, and night gig as a bartender soon caught up with him and he hung up his bar rag to focus more on what he went to school for.

Since those early days as a bartender, Chris has always dreamed of opening his own little beach bar somewhere in the world. Chris has been to Europe, Asia, South America, 48 of the 50 US states and has had a drink in each of these places. Not all those beverages were good, but each spot on the map does things a little differently and Chris is effectively a student of everything. He regularly travels in search of that perfect serene and sandy spot, but for now is content to enjoy Vancouver and all the great little happy hour spots around. He also has his WSET Educator Certification and is our in-house WSET Level 1 and 2 Spirits educator.